Ride 7: Re:Treat

25th of March, 2019 AD

After the harrowing battle that took place within Kuoh Town, the alliance between Gremory and Sitri Peerages along with the representatives of the Kantō Yōkai faction all reconvened within ORC's main office, witnessed and guarded by the Karasu-Tengu who were uninjured enough to remain on duty.

Those who were caught within the quagmire of combat were delegated to a separate ward in order to recuperate from their injuries, leaving the alliance's leaders and their closest confidants to discuss the present issue.

"So let me get this straight," Kumowatari said as the Raiju scratched his furred temple. "... The barrier around town wasn't disturbed in the slightest?"

Sona nods. "In hindsight, we were fortunate that the aerial patrol managed to spot the Yomi Faction before they could cause any serious damage."

"Which begs the question," Rias pointed out. "... How did they get in? Is there a possible point of breach in our defensive measures that we might not be aware of?"

"I'll arrange a separate investigation for this week's agenda," Akeno remarked as she memos the aforementioned plan into her tablet. "... Now then, regarding the Sitri Peerage, I suppose you have an explanation for how your Peerage failed to show up to assist Ryuugamine-kun and Toujou-san during their foray?"

Tsubaki's face turns slightly red from embarrassment. "... Take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt," she disclaimed. "To make a long story short, my division got lost on our way in what it'd appeared to be an endless maze of alleyways, but after a certain amount of time had passed... we literally found ourselves running in place for what'd appeared to be over half an hour."

Chiharu's eyebrow twitched at that proclamation. "... How?"

"I reviewed the footage that one of my miniature golem familiars had caught before it was detected and dealt with," Sona answered as she then pulled out her own smart tablet and showed the footage to the others.

The footage recorded by her golem familiar briefly showed an odd-horned Oni with a shabari-gasa parasol over his shoulder flick a suzu bell hanging from its pommel, causing Tsubaki's own group to suddenly stop in their tracks before walking and "navigating" in place, like a group of mimes acting as if they were lost (minus the face paint and monochromatic outfits).

The Oni then turned his head slightly towards the Golem's line of sight before offhandedly flicking something at it, causing the whole footage to end with static.

"Oh and by the way," Sona then takes out a plastic bag with her destroyed camera recorder inside of it, its lenses breached with a small metal needle akin to a kunai with the rest of the chassis now looking akin to a crumpled soda can, "the golem carrying this had the same amount of magic as a Devil's fetus, meaning that our suspect's base spatial awareness is extremely high."

"Hold on," Akeno remarked as she then rewinded the footage towards the part where the Oni flicked his chime. "... That's where the chime came from when the three-horned Oni escaped!"

"Meaning he's been in the background as Yomi Faction's support this whole time," Kumowatari agreed. "... Genjutsu has always been tricky to deal with, but his seamless application of his illusory arts are quite formidable. I'll notify my men of his possible presence, and to treat him as we would to Rengokuki and Hisaya."

"Thank you," Sona nodded. "... Now regarding the other elephant in the room; the sudden appearance of the other hostile Yōkai that intercepted Himejima-san and Kiba-kun along with our Karasu-Tengu contingent."

"Where did those Hinoenma and that Itsumade come from?" Rias asked the Raiju. "Are they known Yomi Faction affiliates?"

Kumowatari shook his head. "... No," he answered. "They don't have a trace of kegare that are common throughout the Yomi Faction's ranks while their ki is usually the half of what a healthy Yōkai should have. Most likely, and disturbingly, they hired a mercenary Onmyōji to supplement their ranks."

Both Tsubaki and Akeno's eyes widened.

"But I thought the practice of using Yōkai as familiars was outlawed by both the Five Principle Clans and the Shinto Pantheon after the Meiji Restoration!" Akeno pointed out.

"Nowadays, familiars can only be artificially constructed or have their contracts be that of mutual consent overseen by the Clans' representatives ordained by the Shinto kami themselves!" Tsubaki explained. "What you described there was pure enslavement!"

"Guess he's an old guard," scoffed Chiharu. "Or a human who willingly joined the Yomi Faction, so of course the laws are irrelevant to them."

Rias then closes her eyes before coming to her own conclusion. "... Can that Oni with the asymmetrical horns and those hostile Yōkai we tonight be connected?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves and focus on solving one mystery at a time," the Raiju suggested. "And speaking of, Rengokuki's involvement with tonight's raid."

"We're also wondering why he attacked this town despite this place having nothing to do with the Yomi Faction's known agenda," Sona pointed out.

"Tch, do you think the Yomi Faction need a reason to cause destruction and death wherever they go?!" Chiharu dismissed her claim. "At best, their 'reason' can be best attributed to getting us off their backs!"

"But why did they attack the town hall if their purpose is to get rid of their pursuers?" Rias asked. "Surely, there are better ways to draw you all out."

"What matters is that they did, since this is your jurisdiction," Kumowatari pointed out. "... They now know that we're allies, meaning that they'll anticipate us in a united front when we confront them."

"Meaning we have our next phase in this week's plans," Rias answered. "First, find out how the Yomi Faction got into Kuoh Town without raising any of our proximity alarms. Then we devise a method on how to separate our little Genjutsu specialist from the rest of the Yomi Faction so he doesn't pull another fast one on us, and expunge the Yomi Faction from the face of this country by the end of this week."

"For now, all we can suggest is to alter our patrol routes and maintain active contact with the Kanto Yōkai Faction guarding Mt. Iwafune and Fuji," Sona added. "I also notified the other affected parties and I've confirmed reinforcements from Kyoto and Northern Tōhoku Factions will arrive by tomorrow. And regarding the taken Mt. Hiba, the remaining survivors of the Western Chūgoku Faction are preparing to besiege the Yomi Faction's stronghold with the assistance of the Shikoku Faction."

"I have no objections to how things are proceeding," Kumowatari nodded as he raised his hand. "Any objections that I might need to hear?"

No one else raises a hand. Not even the ever-confrontational Chiharu.

"... Meeting is adjourned," Rias declared. "Everyone, rest up for tomorrow's investigation."

The whole office is then vacated, leaving only Rias, Sona, and Kumowatari sitting around the coffee table.

"... Chiharu-san was surprisingly well-behaved during tonight's meeting," commented Sona as she wiped her glasses with a cloth.

"She wasn't always hotheaded as she usually is right now," Kumowatari replied. "She's a trained warrior and a talented tracker. If it weren't for her efforts, we might've lost the Yomi Faction's track very easily."

"I'm still concerned," Rias interjected as she then refilled her tea set (after it was mended) before setting it down on the coffee table. "Specifically, regarding her general temperament. I have to be blunt, Kumowatari-san, it's pretty bad. Doubly so when she and Ryuugamine-kun are within each others' close proximity, which, given combat's general unpredictability, is something that I cannot easily accommodate for unless we waste what little time we have left."

The Raiju raised an eyebrow from her statement. "... And pray tell, why bring that up specifically?"

Rias then unflinchingly pours a cup for the Raiju, Sona, and herself before offering one before Kumowatari.

"To gauge on how far she's willing to go," she answered without hesitation.

The old Raiju sighs before sipping his tea. "... Very well," Kumowatari then sets down his cup on the saucer. "... I'll tell you both the truth."

At Kuoh Academy's Infirmary...

Normally, the inner halls of Kuoh Academy were to remain empty during outside school hours.

However, due to the injured Oni and Karasu-Tengu taking up most of the available/unoccupied within the ORC building's confines, Takeshi's treatment was forced to be held elsewhere, and not because of the fact Takeshi was hosting an Evil Dragon within his soul around the ki-sensitive Yōkai.

... Actually, it was specifically because of that reason why Takeshi was moved away, much to his and ORC's dismay at this blatant prejudice.

"Ow ow ow..." Takeshi grimaced as his spine was being mended by Yuuto's [Pain Killer] blades supplemented by their wielder's healing magic as he laid face-down on one of the beds. "... I really wish Himejima-senpai was here now."

"... Is it because of her big boobs?" Koneko asked as she wrapped her fists with a length of tourniquet after slightly injuring them from punching too many Senjutsu-boosted Oni.

"... I will neither confirm nor deny that accusation," he snarked back. "Although in my defense, my spine was folded like an accordion! The difference between that and her bosom is the literal distance between Hell and Heaven!"

"... You sound like those Pervert Trio," she snarked back.

"Unlike them, I respect Himejima-senpai for more than her boobs," Takeshi addressed. "... That and I am kind of scared of her power."

"Trust me, Ryuugamine," Yuuto remarked as he kept up his healing magic on Takeshi's spine. "... Those sparring sessions we did last week? That's nowhere near her full power."

"Thanks for letting me know..." sighed Takeshi as he couldn't even fathom how strong Akeno and Rias were compared to his present showing.

"No need to mask your envy with fear, whelp," Nidhogg pointed out. "... Still a little salty about letting the enemy get away?"

"Hey, he wasn't that bad," Koneko defended her senpai. "He took out all of those Yomi-aligned Yōkai like they were nothing."

"Only because of my power, and your meddling," the Evil Dragon shot back. "... You two still fear him, or rather, fear me, don't you?"

Yuuto sighs. "... Yes," he answered. "I fear what happens if you fail to keep it under control, Ryuugamine. The Evil Dragons aren't the kind of beings that bow down before anyone, so the default option has always been to, in generous terms, confront them."

"And you Devils get a free pass because you're all willing to bow down to those who write the 'rules'," Nidhogg snarked.

"If 'compromise' didn't exist, then the concept of a society would've never existed," Yuuto pointed out. "... It's not perfect, but it's better than letting barbarity run rampant."

"Tch, you've all gone soft," the Evil Dragons spat in disgust. "The denizens of Helvíti I remember committed evil for the sake of evil itself. At least it was more palatable than those so-called 'heroes' who took their chances with me before they inevitably joined the pile."

"... You're so immature," Koneko grumbled before she balled herself up on the bed next to Takeshi. "Senpai, don't let what he's saying get to you."

"I know..." sighed Takeshi as Nidhogg snickered, knowing that the Evil Dragon's words held weight. "... But it's so frustrating that even after being able to destroy those cannon fodder with ease, even after learning how to use [Promotion] properly, and even after being able to use [Mayhem Striker] like a proper weapon... I'm afraid that it's not going to be enough."

"... Was that a jab at my prowess, whelp?!" Nidhogg cried out in frustration.

Yuuto sighs as he finishes up healing. "... It's just one bad day, Ryuugamine," he reassured. "Don't let that failure get to you. It's not productive."

"... You're right," Takeshi nodded before he sat up to pull down his shirt. "... The enemy commander can't be a commander when they're taken out during their debut episode! Next time, it'll be curtains for them!"

Koneko smiles slightly. "There's the Chūni Evil Dragon senpai I know."

"Well, I'll report back to the President and see if I can arrange a room for you," Yuuto spoke as he walked towards the door. "If not, then you'll have to bunk with me in the guest room-"

He then bumps into someone in the chest, shoving him back slightly.

"I-I'm so sorry!" a boyish voice remarked, revealing himself as Suguru, the Nukekubi.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" asked Takeshi as he approached behind Yuuto. "I thought the Kanto Yōkai Faction are all bunked up at ORC."

The disembodied head sighs. "... Can... can I come in?" he requested. "... I need a quieter place to... well, collect my thoughts and... process everything."

Soon enough, the four of them found themselves sitting in silence in the school infirmary.

"... This is getting awkward," Nidhogg commented, the broken silence causing Suguru to flinch at his voice. "So, what do you really want from us?"

"... Rude," Koneko commented.

Realizing that he couldn't hide anything from the Evil Dragon, the Nukekubi relents before explaining himself. "... Okay, I admit," he confessed, "but I'm really... really interested in you, Evil Dragon-san."

Nidhogg snickers at the young Yōkai's brazen curiosity while the Devils' were shocked at his openness.

"... You have no fear, strákur," Nidhogg hissed with slight amusement. "... Or did curiosity get the better of your common sense?"

"N-no, not really," Suguru stammered. "... But, you kinda... remind me of something."

"Of what, exactly?" asked Takeshi.

"... Of why Chiharu... changed," the Nukekubi revealed, causing Takeshi's eyes to widen in surprise.

"Is that so?" Yuuto commented.

"I remember hearing her flipping the table and shattering the expensive tea set we had out for them while me and Kiba-senpai were guarding the door," Koneko deadpanned.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, are you sure we're talking about the same 'Chiharu' and not some other Oni chick who happens to share the same name as that crazed she-bitch who's constantly on my case every time I'm near her?!" Takeshi pointed out. "The same one that treats me as one of the enemies even after I saved her ass a few times?!"

"... Nope, you're not mistaken, Ryuugamine-san," the Nukekubi clarified. "... She wasn't always like that. Heck, she and I were childhood friends, both born and raised at Hakone Shrine."

"Oooh, this is gonna get juicy," Nidhogg salivated at this potential drama. "... Go on, strákur. Spill it."

Suguru then turns towards the Devils for another request. "... Can I trust you three to not use whatever you're about to hear against Chiharu?" he then bowed his head before them. "No matter what, she's still my friend, and I don't want her to fall further into the hole she dug for herself because of what I'm about to share."

The three Devils nod in confirmation.

"... Suguru-san, I may not like her, but I wouldn't dare slander her," Takeshi confessed. "At best, I want to get back at her, but not to an extent that I want to dishonor her."

"You came this far," Koneko pointed out. "Might as well get it off of your chest."

"Please, tell us," begged Yuuto. "I, for one, wish to address this concern for the sake of our collaboration's success. Transparency between the parties would be extremely welcome."

"And besides, her metaphorical hole is already deep enough to bury her up to her neck," Nidhogg added. "The olive branch is appreciated, but at this point, your so-called friend had burnt the bridge to ashes because of her own temper. But I digress. Go on ahead."

The Nukekubi sighs before he begins to tell his story.

"In the past... Chiharu and Hisaya were close as siblings," Kumowatari began as he stared at his murky reflection from the tea. "Ever since he'd come to Hakone Shrine as a page, he'd been raised alongside with the rest of our own younglings. Chiharu, Hisaya, Suguru, and Azusa... the four of them were inseparable as family."

Rias and Sona listened in on the old Raiju's story.

"Day by day, the four spent the time learning the ways of becoming great Yōkai to defend our home and its treasure, the magatama containing Hinokagutsuchi-sama's flames," he continued. "Taijutsu, Genjutsu, Yōjutsu, Senjutsu... the four of them took great pride in their education towards becoming the next generation of Guardians to our Shrine."

"... Hisaya-nii and Azu-nee were the best of the best," recalled Suguru, his voice laced with both adoration and despair. "Me and Chiharu were barely keeping up with them, and by the time we caught up, the two of them were appointed by the kami as Guardians at a young age. In fact, they were the youngest Yōkai in recorded history to receive guardianship over a Shrine."

"I see," nodded Takeshi, recalling how Hisaya wasn't even perturbed when he and Nidhogg were after his head, merely and calmly ordering his subordinates to act as his meat shield during his retreat. "... That... makes a lot of sense."

"For the next years, while me and Chiharu were finishing our training towards our own guardianship, Hisaya-nii and Azu-nee had already earned titles from repelling various rogue Yōkai and all those who coveted our Shrine's treasure," the Nukekubi continued with a hint of sad nostalgia. "... Hisaya-nii became the 'Fierce Full Moon' and Azu-nee became the 'Wild Brilliance,' the moon and the sun that shone above Hakone Shrine."

"Soon enough, the two of them got engaged," Kumowatari reflected on his past before drinking his tea. "... And how could I object? It felt as if fate brought them together and I wanted to see the Hakone Shrine prosper from their love."

Sona gulped at the inevitable gut punching that was soon coming while Rias refilled her guest's cup.

"... Then three weeks ago, the world that I naively believed in burned to the ground."

"... It was Hell on earth," Suguru's voice trembled. "... The Yomi Faction brought everything they had with them to wreck our home. Oni, Gaki, Wanyūdō, Gyuki, and even four Amanojaku besieged Hakone Shrine... all of the unholy legion led by Rengokuki, the 'Blood Moon Painter' for how he supposedly paints the moon red with the blood of his enemies."

"Flattering," deadpanned Koneko. "... Senpai made him puss out like a bitch."

"Trust me, he was holding back when I was there with you guys," warned the Nukekubi. "... Chiharu and I, along with the rest of the initiates, were pulled out from our training to aid in our home's defense."

"We fought tooth and nail to ensure that not a single one of them stepped foot onto hallowed ground," growled Kumowatari. "We Yōkai warriors dared not to retreat. Our duty took precedent above even our own lives, a concept that you Devils may find rather bizarre."

Rias shakes her head. "... No," she objects. "My worries lie in Chiharu-san's uncontrolled zeal being aimed the wrong way."

"Duty is good and all, but if duty devours one's own soul, then it's no longer 'duty'," Sona added. "... It's just an obsession."

Kumowatari sighed before continuing his story. "... Then I suppose what happened next will make a whole of lot sense to you both."

"... Our defensive lines were compromised due to the attrition rate," Suguru explained. "I was acting as a messenger between the shrine's various checkpoints after our own communications were cut off by their kegare polluting the surrounding ki to the point of being inaccessible."

"Without magic, the whole battlefield turned into something out of the medieval era," commented Yuuto. "No long distance communications, no way of accessing the sky... just like in World War One."

"During one of my runs, I was on my way to inform Hisaya-nii's division of the change in formation to our defensive lines after one of them were recently breached," the Nukekubi continued sharing his story. "... But Hisaya was missing from his post."

"When I heard that news, my heart stopped for a moment," Kumowatari recalled his shock. "... The news was so harrowing that Chiharu abandoned her post upon hearing it."

"... My Satan," Rias gasped in shock as Sona's eyes widened in response. "... Don't tell me-"

The old Raiju nods. "... I couldn't stop her," he stated. "I had to hold the line with the rest of my compatriots, not realizing that we were already breached."

"... Then I saw him," Suguru began to sob into his hands, no longer looking like a Yōkai but a boy going through a traumatic flashback. "... I saw Azu-nee."

All three Devils knew what the Nukekubi had seen on that night, and Nidhogg, inside his prison, began to giggle like a child watching his favorite part of a movie.

"Ah, my favorite part of every story," snickered the Evil Dragon. "... The twist."

"... By the time the battle was over, I... I saw Azusa," the old Raiju's voice trembled. "... Chiharu was crying over her corpse. Her famed shichishitō blade is missing from her hand... her chest gaping open with a serrated stab wound... her eyes... once like the sun... will never shine ever again."

Both Rias and Sona were shocked into silence at how Hisaya's treachery was pulled off.

"... Chiharu saw everything," Kumowatari recalled. "... She saw her whole family get torn apart before her very eyes on that fateful night."

"... I couldn't stop him!" The Nukekubi then completely broke down. "I was running towards where Azu-nee was at, and all I heard was her flesh being punctured and Chiharu's screaming before I blacked out! I'm such a fucking coward! I couldn't stop him! I COULDN'T SAVE AZU-NEE! I SHOULD'VE DIED IN HER STEAD!"

The Devils watched helplessly as the Yōkai cried, unable to address his emotional turmoil save for letting him release his burden.

"No, you would've both died and your friend would've instead been screaming over two dead bodies laid before her," Nidhogg deadpanned with malicious candor. "But then again, I suppose given how many died, any body would have sufficed, wouldn't it?"

"NIDHOGG!" Takeshi screamed, causing Suguru to flinch. "... Sorry, but just for the record, he does not speak for me!"

"How dreadful..." Yuuto shuddered. "... Why would he do such a thing? Why after all that time spent with you all, he would choose to betray you all like this-?!"

"Senpai," Koneko then stopped him from grilling the young Yōkai any further. "... Stop it. He's not well right now."

The three Devils chose to leave him in silence as Nidhogg feasted on the ambient sorrow and negativity in the air as if it were ambrosia.

"... Hisaya's treachery destroyed more than just Hakone Shrine on that fateful night," Kumowatari continued. "... That bastard destroyed all of our goodwill in him, our younglings' future, and the survivors' innocence, especially Chiharu's."

"We'll have to ask him of his motive when we run into him next time," Rias remarked. "... Now I think we understand how deep her obsession goes."

"Forget obsession, she's practically out for blood!" Sona remarked with grave concern. "If she's seeing nothing but red 24/7, then I have to be blunt, Kumowatari-san! She's going to be a liability down the line!"

Kumowatari's brows frowned. "... She hasn't failed us yet," he pointed out. "In fact, it is because of Chiharu that we were able to be on the Yomi Faction's tail ever since we departed from Kanagawa and all the way to Nagano Prefecture for the past three weeks. If anything, that Ryuugamine boy is the one bringing out her inner demons."

Rias then looked at him very incredulously. "... In what regard?!"

"... Ryuugamine-san," Suguru said after he'd calmed down. "... I have to be honest, it's not just the Evil Dragon that I was interested in."

Takeshi then pointed to himself puzzledly, to which the Nukekubi nodded in his own arms as confirmation.

"... You... kinda remind me of how Hisaya-nii was before he... well, it happened," he explained. "... The way you go into a fight without regard to your own safety, the way you hold yourself and to your friends, and the way you choose to fight for good despite the inner darkness within you."

"Bet that didn't last for long," deadpanned Nidhogg. "... Also, that last part kinda slipped out, didn't it?"

The Nukekubi covers his disembodied head's mouth as the three Devils close in on him.

"... Elaborate," Koneko ordered. "... I know you're not well right now, but that last part is kinda impossible to ignore."

"Please," begged Yuuto. "... Accuse me of being overly inquisitive, but you might know something that the others don't!"

"If not, then we'll find out about it eventually," Takeshi receded and rolled his eyes. "... Better out than in, Suguru-san. It's like shit. Constipation is bad for your health."

"Gross," the white-haired girl squeamishly crinkled her face in disgust as the Nukekubi sighs in defeat.

"... Fine," he surrendered. "... But please, don't tell this to Chiharu."

Everyone nods in agreement. Even Nidhogg, who had every incentive to release this confidential information to the Oni's face for the heck of it, chooses to restrain himself for a "better time," treating this potential bombshell akin to how a farmer waits for his crop to grow before putting it to sickle.

"... I... I kinda sensed vestigial traces of kegare within Hisaya-nii's ki ever since I first met him," explained the Nukekubi. "... You see, most Yōkai can trace their lineages from the depths of Yomi, but nowadays, ever since Abe no Seimei's reformations in the relationship between humanity and Yōkai, most of us began cleansing ourselves of kegare to better fit the services of the kami who were willing to welcome us into their service."

"... Come to think of it, I do sort of recall a video from an American YouTuber where it claims that Yōkai are basically kami that are not worshiped or don't have their own dedicated shrine," Takeshi remarked. "... Does that principle apply to what you said?"

"Theoretically, but that's besides the point," Suguru replied. "... I mean, there are those who chose to not accept the reforms and remain renegade, but choose to remain on this plane, allowing their internal kegare to peter out with each successive generation. However, those kinds of Yōkai are looked down upon by everyone, including the Yomi Faction who sees them as cowards that needed to be 'put back on the right path,' and the majority of the Yōkai Factions seeing them as no different from filth, causing them to be caught in the middle of the contentious relationship between this world's 'civilized' Yōkai and the Yomi-aligned."

"... Sounds familiar," Koneko commented.

"They almost sound like how Strays are formed..." Yuuto agreed.

"... I kind of assumed that Hisaya-nii was from a family of those wild Yōkai who was sent to our Shrine as a sign of goodwill, or maybe he was adopted by another Yōkai family who wanted him to succeed," Suguru explained. "... I... then sort of looked into his family history, and there was nothing to speak of. No recorded parents save for being adopted by a clan of Ōgama in Yamaguchi Prefecture before coming all the way to Kanagawa. I... wanted to give him a chance. I wanted to believe that he can do great things without his inner darkness devouring his soul! ... And yet... and yet!"

Nidhogg snickers from within [Cataclysm Zone]. "... All that talk of faith and belief in that Hisaya-strákur," the Evil Dragon remarked, "... but in truth, you were too scared of his inner darkness to pull him out from it, weren't you?"

Sobbing, the Nukekubi nods. "... It's all my fault," he wept. "I wanted to believe in him, but I couldn't do so wholeheartedly!"

Takeshi then tried to reach out for him, but then another thought intruded upon his mind.

Even though the rest of the ORC say that they believed in him, was it really the case as long as the Evil Dragon bound to his soul kept wishing for their deaths?

He looked at Koneko and Yuuto, sensing a familiar sense of fear from their eyes that he saw in the others back during Junior High-

... No, don't think about it, he thought. I'm not going to let history repeat itself! Not mine, not Hisaya's, nor anyone's!

Nidhogg would've countered that claim, but for now, he chooses to savor the Nukekubi's sorrow as a full-course meal solely to himself.

"... I think we pushed you too far," Yuuto shook his head before getting up. "... Forgive us, Suguru-san. We didn't mean to reopen old wounds."

The Nukekubi shook his head. "... No, it was my choice to share it with you all," Suguru replied. "... Maybe deep down, I needed to share it with someone else that I can trust with my life."

Koneko raised an eyebrow upon hearing his claim. "... You trust us more than your fellow Yōkai?"

"I... I'm not ready to tell them everything just yet," he confessed. "... Maybe after all of this is over. Maybe, if maybe, if I have enough courage to confront my own inner demons... then maybe, I won't have to suffer like Hisaya-nii did. Maybe... I can break the cycle of silence that makes everyone suffer."

"Everyone does that kind of thing at least once in their life," Takeshi remarked before placing his hand onto the Nukekubi's shoulder. "... No need to rush it. Let your heart grow at its own pace. Forcing it is gonna hurt a lot worse."

Upon reaching a semblance of understanding, the four of them then made their way out of the infirmary and towards ORC's building.

However, unbeknownst to them, someone had overheard the entire conversation that had transpired.

"... Why?"

Chiharu's eyelids twitched as her hands balled up tight into a fist. She'd gone from where she was posted to look for Suguru after he'd seemingly wandered off.

Her heart boiled with sorrow and rage not only at her friend's decision to keep silent of his own knowledge regarding that traitor Hisaya, but to trust those Devils more than her.

"... Traitor."

All Nidhogg could do was smile to himself as he fed off the hidden Oni's ambient negativity without his host's knowledge as everyone called for the night.

26th of March, 2019 AD

Another day after school, another round of morning patrols around Kuoh Town courtesy of the Kanto Faction's representatives, and another round of sparring against Yuuto and Takeshi.

"What's wrong Kiba-kun?!" Takeshi cackled tauntingly as his [Mayhem Striker] struck against his manifested blades before they shattered upon impact. "Feeling a bit sluggish today?!"

"Maybe," Yuuto cooly replied before his movement then tripled in speed. "... That's what you get for assuming!"

As the blond Devil blitzed around the armored Takeshi in a blur, the latter instinctively releases a wave of ash towards Yuuto to limit his movement, but the former counters this maneuver by conjuring several blades with strong winds blowing around its edges, dissipating the consuming ash before Yuuto then manifests a sword that which then threw towards Takeshi.

Takeshi deflects the thrown blade with his dane axe, but upon contact, the blade then explodes into a glaring flash of light that blinded both Takeshi and Nidhogg.

"THAT'S PLAYING DIRTY AND YOU KNOW IT!" complained the Evil Dragon as his eyes stung with his host's. "DAMN THIS SYNCHRONIZATION!"

Seeing an opportunity, Yuuto then summons a segmented blade to which it then extends outwards into a bladed whip that was speeding towards Takeshi's back.

"OH HELL NO!" Takeshi then counters by channeling his demonic energy through [Mayhem Striker] to then emit a surrounding blast of force that repels Yuuto's blade whip and repels him back.

Upon regaining his bearings, Takeshi then spotted Yuuto for a second before he then suddenly disappeared.

"Shit, he's ghosting me again with his speed..." Takeshi thought out loud as he looked around his surroundings, only for his instincts to realize that he's no longer present. "... Unless!"

By pure instinct, Takeshi then jumps out of the way from where he stood from, revealing Yuuto erupting from the ground with a drill-like sword in his hand that he used to burrow underground.

"By the looks of it, it appears you're accustomed to underground attacks," commented Yuuto.

"Read Naruto Chapter 246!" Takeshi shot back as he stopped rolling across the ground before setting himself upright onto both his feet and free hand. "Or better yet, watch Toqger Episode 18!"

Nidhogg then peeks into Takeshi's memories regarding the latter. "... Pfft," he then stifled a laugh. "... Not gonna lie, I'd love to see what would've happened if that were the case."

"AW SHUUDAP!" Takeshi and Yuuto then clashed blades with each other, ending in a standoff where Takeshi's [Mayhem Striker]'s edge rested under Yuuto's chin, while Yuuto's blade was placed against Takeshi's neck.

"... I think that's enough for now," Yuuto remarked as he and Takeshi put their weapons down. "... The President's expecting company anytime about now."

"Mm hm," nodded Takeshi as he dismissed his armor and weapon back into his [Cataclysm Zone]. "Don't wanna smell like sweat when they arrive. Wanna hit the showers before they get here?"

"Lead the way," Yuuto remarked as he and Takeshi teleported back into Kuoh Academy's gymnasium before heading towards where the showers are running.

"Oh hey," Takeshi remarked as he saw Hyoudou Issei, Matsuda Eiji, and Motohama Naoto near the building's edge. "... Thinking of taking a peek at the Kendo Club again?"

"What?! No!" Naoto denied before he accidentally dropped his disposable camera from his jacket. "... Yes."

Both Yuuto and Takeshi groan at catching them.

"Are you three trying to get yourselves arrested?" Yuuto commented.

"Screw you, pretty boy!" Eiji bit back. "If we're not getting some by the time we graduate, then what is the point of us being even born as men?!"

"More like being born as gluttons for punishment, that's what..." Takeshi rolled his eyes. "... Look, we're gonna use the showers after we played basketball out in the back, so unless you want an eyeful of both of us, then please, GTFO of this place before people less forgiving than us get the wrong idea, if you know what I mean."

Issei sighs in defeat. "... Come on, guys," he then led the other two away from the building. "Let's just go hit the arcade while he hangs out with the 'Prince of Kuoh'... some friend he is..."

Takeshi sighs, admittedly a little hurt that he had to lie through his teeth to keep his involvement with the supernatural under wraps.

You're a master of lying and misdirecting others, whelp, Nidhogg complimented as his host and Yuuto stripped themselves nude before entering their own stalls.

That doesn't mean I don't like lying to my friends, Nidhogg, Takeshi replied as he turned the knob, soaking himself.

As the two cleaned themselves of the dirt and sweat, the two Devils (in disguise) began to converse from across the stalls.

"... So," Yuuto began. "... You're friends with those three?"

"Eh, loosely," Takeshi replied. "... I mean, they're the only ones who have approached me ever since I arrived here. And no, I don't perv out with them, save for borrowing one or two of their DVDs for the weekend."

Yuuto chuckles. "... Honestly, your friendship with those three infamous 'Pervert Trio' is probably the most normal thing about you, Ryuugamine."

Takeshi accidentally over-pumps his shampoo. "... Me? Normal? With those three?"

"Well, it's something I found reading some manga in passing," Yuuto explained. "A group of outcasts with differing backgrounds and interesting banding together in a strange friendship... it's something I found myself... well, attracted to."

"Sheesh, just say that I'm a positive influence to them, even if you're lying through your teeth," Takeshi grimaced as he washed his hair. "... Although, given that ORC is us two guys in a company of three of the most attractive girls in Kuoh Academy, I find our own combination not that mundane either."

"Agree to disagree then!" Yuuto replied with a chipper tone.

As the two finished washing their heads, they then moved onto their bodies.

"... Hey, Ryuugamine-san," Yuuto spoke as Takeshi finished squeezing his body wash. "... You know, you've been pretty hard on yourself despite it only being the third week after you joined us."

"Yeah well, given what kind of work we do, how can I not?" Takeshi replied in coded language in case someone was overhearing things.

"I understand your frustration, but you're kind of... overcompensating?" Yuuto replied as he began scrubbing his body. "... I mean, don't get me wrong, you're doing a splendid job with us so far, but at this given rate, I'm afraid that you'll burn yourself out at a pivotal moment sometime in the future."

"Wouldn't be the first time..." Takeshi ruefully grumbled as he turned the knob off after rinsing himself of his soapy body.

"Hey," Yuuto then placed his hand onto Takeshi's bare shoulder. "... President trusts you, and so do I. Just don't do anything that makes us worried sick for your health, understood?"

Yeah, yeah, keep buttering him up, Nidhogg jeered as Takeshi nodded. ... He'll taste a lot better when properly basted-

*snap*

Both their heads then pivot towards the open window that had emitted a flash.

"... Motherfucker!"

Takeshi the sprints out of the gym showers with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist before chancing upon the female students from Kuoh Academy's Photography Club/Yuuto's diehard fangirls trying to escape from the scene of the crime, only for the one who took the picture to fall onto the one who was holding up the stepladder.

"Ryuugamine! What's going on-?!" Yuuto then arrived (fully dressed) before finding Takeshi mugging one of the girls of their camera. "... Ryuugamine-?!"

He was then cut off when the camera was thrown into his hands, the projector showing his naked body, causing him to blush.

"Please," Takeshi grinned evilly as he then let loose his "predisposition" to force the peepers to confess, "kindly explain yourselves."

"We we we... WE WERE TAKING PICTURES OF KIBA-KUN SO WE CAN SELL THEM FOR A FORTUNE!" a mousy girl with frizzy brown hair like a dog's and glasses chittered out.

"A LOT OF OTHER GIRLS THROUGHOUT THE SCHOOL WANT A PIECE OF THE PRINCE OF KUOH, SO WE WERE PROVIDING THE NEXT BEST THING!" the other, tallish, sporty-looking girl with a side ponytail confessed. "... WE ALSO THOUGHT THAT IF WE GET YOUR GOOD SIDE, THEN MAYBE YOUR REPUTATION WITH AT LEAST THE FEMALE STUDENT BODY WOULD'VE IMPROVED-!"

*SMASH*

Takeshi's foot nearly stamped the girl's head flat, instead cracking the arid earth next to her face.

"Kiba-kun," Takeshi called out. "Call the freaking police-"

"OKAY! OKAY! WE'LL DELETE THE PHOTOS!" the mousey girl caved. "WE'LL NEVER DO IT AGAIN! WE SWEAR!"

"You better not," Takeshi threatened as Yuuto then took out the camera's memory card as evidence. "... We have the evidence, after all."

The two girls looked towards Yuuto for salvation, except for that their idol of admiration was utterly furious with their conduct.

"... Leave," he ordered. "Now."

The two girls then took their (empty) camera and stepladder before running off as both Devils then erased their memories of the last few hours to cover their tracks.

"... This school is full of perverts, isn't it?" groaned Takeshi.

"I'm getting tired just thinking about it," sighed Yuuto. "... Wanna go buy a few drinks?"

The two of them then dress themselves before heading towards the school's vending machines and finding somewhere else for themselves, settling in the thick of the woods surrounding ORC building's proximity.

"... You know, I've kinda been wondering, Kiba-kun," Takeshi remarked as he drank his can of Pocari Sweat. "... For all the power that my own Sacred Gear has, I can't help but be envious to your [Sword Birth] for how versatile it is."

"Well," Yuuto chuckled as he set down his own drink next to his feet, "... I didn't get to where I am just by sitting on my laurels."

"I can see that," Takeshi snickered back. "... That level of concentration and prowess speaks of your experience. You must've trained endlessly to get this far."

"... Yeah, well," shrugged Yuuto before he picked up his can, "... my swords are not genuine Demonic Swords. At best, they're lesser copies I can mass-produce."

"Hey, there's no rule saying that the fake can't beat the original!" Takeshi quoted Fate/Stay Night. "... But seriously though, you're kind of a badass, Kiba-kun. No wonder why you're made ORC's Knight."

Yuuto bitterly chuckles before sighing. "... Well, I didn't start that way when I first joined," he pointed out. "... In fact, you and I have a lot in common on how we joined ORC in the first place."

"What do you mean-oh," Takeshi then recalled how he himself initially joined ORC. "... Do you wanna talk about it?"

Yuuto stays silent.

"Heheheh... man, I love hanging out with you lot," snickered Nidhogg as [Cataclysm Zone] manifested around his host's waist from the forest's ambient magic. "Your pain rooted in your pasts is honey to my forked tongue. All that's left is the white-haired stelpa's own history to snack on."

"Please shut up, Nidhogg," sighed Takeshi. "I'm glad you're enjoying our company, but we don't exist for your amusement."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," the Evil Dragon then retreats back into his prison as the gem turns from ash-gray to black.

"Sorry about that, Kiba-kun," Takeshi apologized. "... But assholes gotta be assholes, huh?"

"Don't we all know..." Yuuto ruefully remarked before getting up. "Alright, break's over! Let's go see the President welcome our guests!"

"Lead the way!" Takeshi then followed after Yuuto before both of them arrived in front of the ORC building, where Rias was waiting for them. "Sorry about the holdup, President! We had to freshen up a little."

Rias chuckles. "Don't worry," she remarked as a pair of torii gates made of magical energy appeared before them. "You're just in time."

From the left gate, an entourage of a dozen fox-masked Shinto priests emerged, the leader having four bushy tails in amber-brown fur emerging from behind. Each of them armed with various weapons that belonged at a Japanese cultural museum, ranging from yumi bows, jūmonji-yari spears, and their leader armed with a shichishitō blade sheathed behind his back along with a sheathed pair of a katana and wakizashi hanging from the side of his hip. Their bearings were uniform, recited, courtly, as if they'd all walked out of the Heian Period itself.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Gremory and company," bowed the leader before then took off his mask, revealing himself to be a young man looking in his early-to-mid twenties with ocean-blue eyes and a streak of similarly-shaded cyan streaking down one of his amber-brown bangs, making him look like a K-Pop singer more than a traditional Shinto priest, if not for his bearing betraying his appearance. "My name is Yasuhiro, kiko-ranked Kitsune, representing the Kyoto Yōkai Faction on behalf of our esteemed Tenko, Lady Yasaka. The remainder of the Kyoto Faction are occupied repairing the breached seal around Mt. Kurama, so despite our limited aid regarding this impending crisis, I hope that our united front will prove fruitful."

"It's the thought that counts, Yasuhiro-san," Rias bowed back in respect. "I'll notify Kumowatari-san of your arrival. We will do our utmost best to live up to Yasaka-sama's expectations."

"Thank you," the Kitsune then bows back, with Takeshi noticing him doing his best to avoid eye contact with him as he instead gazed towards the other torii gate. "... And speaking of arrival."

To the torii gate on the right then emerged a hodgepodge of seven varied and wild-looking Yōkai. The group consisted of a child-sized lobster-like Amakiri carrying several sheathed katanas in his wicker basket strapped onto his back, a lascivious feline Kasha dressed loosely in her sooty-pink kimono as her feet perched on top of a loose wheel axle held up with a pair of blazing discs as she rode on freely like a modern-day hoverboard, a pair of Matagi-like Kawauso twins armed with Murata Type 22 rifles and frag grenades with one of them smoking from a kiseru pipe, a simian-like Shōjō dressed in a dark-green jinbei with a sheathed tanto dagger tucked into his pants who was chugging from a massive gourd of sake before taking a large bite out of a fresh persimmon fruit, a Mujina dressed like an armored samurai with a fur cape belonging to that of bear hanging from his shoulders and armed with a nagamaki blade, and leading them all was a brutish-looking Namahage, with a demonic mask painted blue, carrying a pair of giant cleavers in his hands while a pail a size of a barrel hung from around his waist and underneath his straw raincoat. Contrary to the prior group, this group of Yōkai were more informal and ragtag in their overall mannerisms, looking more akin to the Seven Samurai than an organized task force from an organized legislative body. They were rough and wild-looking with a hint of roguish nobility, akin to nature's guardians rather than anything corporeal.

"Hello!" bellowed the Namahage as he then moved his mask aside, revealing himself to be a bearded old man in his mid-fifties with stout-looking fangs sticking out of his lower jaw. "Name's Kambei! Representing the Tōhoku Yōkai Faction on the behalf of our great Lady Kiyohime! Me and my folks are ready to raise some Hell on those Yomi bastards that wrecked our home!"

"Kikuchiyo here," the Kasha raised her hand. "Nice to meet you and stuff."

"... Kyûzô," the Amikiri greeted. "... Pleased to be working with you all."

"Hei-*HIC*... hachi," the drunk Shōjō slurred before taking another swig from his gourd.

"I am Katsushirō," the Mujina bowed. "I will contribute to this cause with the best of my martial abilities!"

"I'm Gorōbei, and this is my twin brother, Shichirōji!" one of the Kawauso then pointed to his twin smoking his pipe. "We're just a couple of local hunters hailing from the Aomori Prefecture, and we're ready to put hot lead between those Yomi bastards' eyes!"

Yasuhiro rolled his eyes at their disheveled state of decorum and dress. "... It appears that you and your lot still haven't learned to bathe, Kambei."

"And why are you going to battle dressed in white?" the Namahage pointed at the Kitsune. "You know that blood is really hard to wash off and stuff, right?"

Takeshi looked towards Rias with concern. "... Are you sure getting two polar opposites in the same group is a good idea?"

"They're the only ones who willingly applied," Rias sighed. "The rest are back at their territories fixing the breached seals."

"We are really scraping at the bottom of the barrel, aren't we?" deadpanned Nidhogg.

"Anyway!" Rias snapped, catching everyone's attention. "Regardless, here's how today's schedule shall go. My Peerage and Sitri's will investigate the town for any traces of kegare we can find leading to the possible point of breach, while the gathered Yōkai are to patrol around the town's borders to ensure that no one slips through. And I cannot stress this enough, the enemy has a master Genjutsu user in their ranks, so heed with extreme caution when going out on the field, and don't trust your senses when you start feeling slightly funny-"

The perpetually drunk Shōjō then hiccups and belches from his inebriation.

"... And someone watch him to make sure he doesn't get lost," begged Rias.

"Leave it to me," Kambei then picked up the simian-like Yōkai and placed him onto his shoulder. "May not look like it, but Heihachi here is our best guy when it comes to dealing with magical stuff!"

"I'll make arrangements and put up additional wards around the town's barrier," stated Yasuhiro.

"Good," Rias nodded. "Refer to Sitri and her Peerage regarding what you'll do, and we'll coordinate the rest of the group from there. Any questions?"

Yasuhiro then gazes towards Takeshi with a scrutinizing gaze. "... Is he going to be a problem?"

"Hey, I can hold my own just fine," he shot back before looking down on his Sacred Gear. "... Nidhogg, can I just ask you to somewhat behave yourself until we get into a proper fight?"

"Stay out of my way, and I will consider it," the Evil Dragon replied semi-maliciously.

"Dismissed!" Rias barked as the Yōkai reinforcements wasted no time dispersing throughout the town's borders.

"So what now, President?" asked Yuuto.

"Take to the skies," Rias instructed as she then unfurled her wings. "According to Kumowatari, kegare works similar to modern-day pollution, meaning that traces of it can be found residually within the environment that it had contaminated and spilled over elsewhere. Follow me. I'll explain everything else in detail up there."

The three Devils then take off into the sky, using their magic to cloak their presence from common sight as they begin searching throughout the whole town from a bird's eye view. Takeshi himself was slightly wobbly in his trajectory, but with Yuuto's help, he was able to keep himself airborne.

"We've been investigating the possible cases of yesterday's breach, and so far, here's what we've gathered," Rias explains herself. "One, the Yomi Faction had a reason to attack Kuoh Town for reasons we do not know as of now. Two, There were more of those diminutive Gaki than those Oni when they attacked the town, the ratio between them being 5 to 1 rather than 5 to 3. And three, if they didn't come from the sky or on the ground..."

Takeshi then looks down as they flew over a manhole cover. "... Then they came from the underground?!"

"Frankly speaking, Sitri's barrier extends towards the underground sectors of the town as well," Yuuto pointed out. "In fact, this breach may be the same reason as how the Strays from two weeks ago got into Kuoh in the first place. Granted, it might not be the same hole, but in practice, it can be safely assumed that some parts of the underground channels might be in a state of neglect to the point where it was weakened through pure structural compromise alone."

"So what do we do? Go underground like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and search through every tunnel and hope that we chance upon it?" Takeshi asked.

Rias chuckled as she shook her head. "... Something a tad more simple, I assure you."

The three then descend towards an open aqueduct running underneath an overpass that led into Kuoh Town. Upon landing, Rias then conjures a magic circle from her hand to then pull out a pair of disposable gloves, a beaker, and a pair of clamps to hold said beaker.

"This aqueduct directly leads into Kuoh's entire sewer system," she explained as she began collecting water. "The whole town's power supply is directly supplied by a hydroelectric plant that doubles as a water purification facility leading out towards the northern ocean in the neighboring Niigata Prefecture. By expelling water towards that place, then there's likelihood that we're able to catch traces of kegare within the waste waters itself."

Upon finishing her collecting, Rias then takes the filled and corked beaker towards Takeshi.

"Takeshi, can you manifest your [Cataclysm Zone] right now?" the President requested. "I want to test something."

"Uh, sure. Give me a sec," Takeshi then concentrates to bring out his Sacred Gear around his waist. "So, what is it?"

Rias then brings the beaker of water near the belt's gem, causing the black gem to turn slightly ashen-gray for a moment before it was followed up by a low and rumbling growl.

"... That much isn't enough to whet my appetite, stelpa," growled Nidhogg. "Don't bother me until you find more toothsome bounties of that savory filth."

"Thank you for your cooperation regardless," Rias replied before she then put her field lab equipment away back into her magic circle as Takeshi dismissed his Sacred Gear. "This all but confirms it. Even minimally, there's a presence of the Yomi Faction's signature kegare underneath Kuoh Town."

"So we begin our search underground as soon as possible?" Yuuto pointed out.

"No, we'll have to scout it out first," the President vetoed. "I'll request Sitri to send her stealth golem familiars to survey the underground in case of possible ambushes while the rest of us keep presence above ground. The remainder of the Yomi Faction are preoccupied besieging Mt. Iwafune and Mt. Fuji to send a third invasion towards our town lest they want to overextend themselves. At the very least, a show of force will act as a deterrent towards them until we come up with our plan."

"Reasonable," nodded Takeshi. "Pity that we can't take the initiative ourselves. But given that we don't know where they're coordinating their operations from, I guess standing by is better than running dick-first into an enemy ambush."

"Could be better said, but you're correct," Rias nodded. "Alright, I'll coordinate today's patrol groups and routes before the results can be confirmed. Takeshi, you're with Yuuto today. Take to the air while Koneko and Akeno sweep the ground with everyone else."

"Yes President," Yuuto replied as Rias then flew back to ORC. "... So Ryuugamine-kun? Are you used to flying yet?"

"Not gonna lie, I kinda miss riding on my motorbike," he replied. "... Mind holding my hand so that I don't end up landing on someone's head?"

Yuuto sighs. "Don't worry," he then takes his hand. "I won't let you go."

The two Devils then took off into the air as Takeshi was taught by Yuuto on how to fly for prolonged periods of time while patrolling the air.

A few townsfolk could've heard someone screaming from above, but that soon faded into an old wives' tale shared throughout the plus-40 female demographic.

27th of March, 2019 AD

"Coast is clear, everyone," Sona's voice spoke through Rias' phone as night settled in Kuoh Town. "My golems will keep an eye out on the way ahead throughout the spelunking."

"Thank you," Rias replied before she turned to the group gathered behind her, consisting of her Peerage, Chiharu, Suguru, Kumowatari, Yasuhiro, Kambei, and Heihachi. "Alright, we're all clear to enter! Be sure to stick together and keep an eye out for your surroundings! Just because Sona has eyes everywhere down there doesn't excuse neglecting vigilance!"

"Regardless, let's all hope that this the lucky break we needed," the old Raiju remarked as he and the Namahage were the first to enter underground, with the former turning himself into a bolt of lightning to slither himself into the hole while the latter flattened himself into a cutout version of himself before wriggling his way inside before snatching the drunk Shōjō by his jacket and pulling him in.

Soon after, everyone else follows inside, with Koneko pulling the manhole cover down where they entered to cover their way inside.

"... Stinks," Koneko groaned as the sounds of running water filled the ambiance.

"Hey Yasuhiro, are you sure you're okay with us down here?" Kambei pointed out as he then lit a torch with a spark generated from his cleavers. "I mean you're the one dressed in majority-white."

"I'll tolerate it," the Kitsune grimaced as he then conjured a pair of blue will-o-wisp lanterns. "... Let us be on our way."

The group then began their exploration as they followed Sitri's golems carrying miniature camera recorders around their round little bodies. Everyone had their own method of illumination, with Takeshi himself resorting to bringing a large flashlight (that he bought from a hardware store after school) to save his energy for the possible upcoming battle.

"... Feels like home," Nidhogg remarked. "Cold, dark, moist, and rancid."

"Of course an Evil Dragon would enjoy it down here..." grimaced Chiharu.

"For the record, he does not speak for me!" Takeshi defended.

The other Yōkai grimace slightly at his words, seemingly not believing in his words wholly.

"... Figured they'd react like that," he sighed in disappointment.

"Get used to it, whelp," Nidhogg deadpanned. "... Friendship is going to be a rarity as long as you're with me."

"Okay, in the next few meters, my golems have spotted a possible point of breach," explained Sona over Rias' phone. "Get closer and see if you can pick up something that I couldn't last night."

"Confirmed," Rias replied as she pushed the group ahead before arriving at a collapsed passageway packed with rubble and closed off with faded yellow warning tapes. "... Looks fairly abandoned... no residual magic applied onto it. Any news documents that you can cross-reference?"

"Hold on a second..." Sona then could be heard tapping away at her separate laptop keyboard before answering again. "I got it! There was a magnitude 6.2 earthquake about five years ago at Hakuba Village about within the same prefecture. Its aftershocks reached Kuoh Town's Western borders that caused several cave-ins during the construction of our sewer tunnels. Thankfully, no one died in the incident, but after which, the whole town development had to be restructured in a fortnight."

"Interesting history lesson, but what does that have to do with our current predicament?" Kumowatari pointed out.

"It's more akin to a wrinkle in a fabric or a faulty stroke in a painting," Sona explained. "My barrier might've not taken into account the whole tunnel being fixed before it was abandoned entirely."

"I doubt that it's the sole reason how the Yomi Faction got through," Takeshi remarked as he then looked down at the waters still running across the gaps in the rubble damming the waters from the other side. "Hey Nidhogg, you sense any significant kegare in those waters?"

"It's the same as everywhere else, whelp," the Evil Dragon grumbled. "Check elsewhere."

Rias sighs as she calls Sona. "... How many breaches have your golems found in total?"

"Only about three, and made sure to double-check," she answered. "I'm sending in my golems to survey both points-what the?!"

"What?" Rias replied. "What is it, Sona?!"

"I JUST CONFIRMED ANOTHER BREACH WITHIN THE THIRD ONE!" she answered. "I'LL SEND YOU THE COORDINATES! FOLLOW THE GOLEMS CLEARING THE WAY FOR YOU ALL!"

"Got it!" Rias then spots the miniature golems forming a pathway for them. "Everyone, follow me!"

The group then hurried through the formed lane where the golems had formed before coming across a breaching point that then led into an underground area where it was a giant hall held up by massive concrete pillars.

"Holy crap, President," Takeshi looked on in awe. "If I knew that this town literally replicated the entire Metropolitan Area Underground Discharge Channel, then I might've come to Kuoh a lot sooner!"

The other Yōkai then looked towards Rias for some answers to this weird fixation.

"... He's a fan of Tokusatsu," she answered.

"What's 'Tokusatsu'?" asked Chiharu.

"You don't have a television back home, don't you?" Rias remarked.

"What is this 'television' you're talking about?" Suguru asked.

Everyone else who's been accustomed to living a modern day life sighs at their Kanto contemporaries.

"Oooh yes, this is more like it," snickered the Evil Dragon. "The air here is a bit more plentiful of this irresistible anathema. Plenty for me to drink up here."

Yasuhiro then hears of this and begins purifying himself with his collection of wards. "To think I'd be thanking the likes of him..." he hissed as he quickly began cleaning himself of the dense kegare in the ambiance. "... I do not know which is worse."

"I'll keep an eye out for the enemy," Kambei suggested as he and the Shōjō began surveying the other parts of the area. "Rest of you do the same. Mind any booby traps left behind."

The group then dispersed throughout the cavernous underground sanctum.

Takeshi found himself instinctively following Koneko and Akeno, sucking up the ambient kegare left behind before the former then freezes up upon seeing one of the pillars having indents roughly the size of her body in its shaft. "... Crud."

Akeno sighs as this place became familiar to her as well. "... Just come clean?"

The white-haired girl nods. "... Better now then later."

"Wait, what are you two talking about?!" Takeshi remarked as he followed the pair as everyone else quickly regrouped.

"Oh, you're all back," Rias remarked. "... Anything to report?"

Yasuhiro shakes his head. "Nothing but filth and muck down here, left behind my Yomi's supplicants."

"Heihachi didn't pick up anything, so yeah, I think we're mostly in the clear," the Namahage pointed out as he referred to his drunk friend perched on his shoulder, drinking his booze.

Koneko, however, raises her hand with a hint of embarrassment, shading her face red. "... Follow me."

The whole group then follows Koneko before they end up coming across another hole that was breached open from inside of where they were.

"... I'll cut to the chase," she began. "... Two weeks ago, the Cluster we were after separated us into different parts of Kuoh, with me and Himejima-senpai ending up here."

Chiharu then walks through the breach before picking up their tracks coming up from the stairs leading outside. "... What the Hell?!"

She rushes upstairs, and finds that it led to the outer road leading out of Kuoh Town.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" exclaimed the Oni. "THE YOMI FACTION LITERALLY USED A BACKDOOR TO GET IN?!"

"... I'm partially to blame for this," Koneko remarked as she blushed with embarrassment. "One of the Strays we were fighting tried to blow herself up in our faces. I threw her towards the wall and the resulting explosion... might've punched a hole into the barrier around the town."

Everyone was completely silent at the revelation of this revelation as Rias then called Sona again.

"... Does your barrier extend as far as the town's borders, or do they stop near the bus stop just outside?" she asked.

Sona goes silent as she presumably checks for her own records. "... Shit. My calculated radius was off by 4 meters."

"Well, there we have it, folks," Rias remarked in a deadpan manner. "Now we all figured out how they got in, I think we all know what to do next."

"Clean this place up, set up a ton of our own traps and alarms here and near where we are right now, and when the Yomi Faction comes knocking in..." Kambei then pounds his fist into his hand. "... We whack em."

"Still..." Yasuhiro then glared towards Koneko. "... To think that her carelessness is the sole reason why we were called upon in the first place."

"I'd like to object to that notion!" Takeshi interjected. "We still don't know why they chased Kumowatari-san's contingents this far in! We don't know what the Yomi Faction are after in this town, nor what their course of action is while they try to unseal a way out for all of Yomi! At worst, Toujou-san's mistake was an accident that the enemy took advantage of!"

Just as Yasuhiro was about to protest, Kambei stops him.

"Boy's got a point," the Namahage remarked. "We're still blind to what they're gonna do save for their endgame."

The Kitsune sighs with umbrage in his breath. "Very well," he grumbled. "... I'll focus on what we can do rather than what should've been done."

"Thank you," Rias bowed her head as she consoled Koneko. "... I know you didn't mean to, Koneko. All we can do is fix our mistakes however we can, okay?"

Koneko nods, slightly ashamed of what she'd brought to the whole town and everyone else.

"I'll see if I can extend the barrier's radius to better cover for my margin of error," Sona remarked. "I'll contact everyone else and update them on our new plan."

"Appreciated," Rias replied before hanging up. "Everyone, you're dismissed for the evening! All of you, be sure to take a shower when you get back home."

As today's investigation came to a close, Nidhogg, feeling satiated after drinking up the remaining traces of kegare present throughout the underground, couldn't help but recall the sole Oni girl's lingering intent.

... She's planning something, he kept it to himself. Should I tell the whelp to stir up some drama, or should I let it play out organically?

The Evil Dragon snickers to himself as he then retreats back into his prison to wait for the chaos to unfold on its own.

... You know what, I think I can use both a dinner and a show, he thought to himself. Maybe later.

28th of March, 2019 AD

"... Oh fuck me," Takeshi yawned as he walks out of the school gates. "I can't keep going like this..."

The current week proved to be an ordeal and a half, with Takeshi's mind whittling away from the gradual building up of his fatigue, affecting his performance at school and his own ability to keep his own "predisposition" in check.

The deadline towards the 31st was quickly approaching, and admittedly, Takeshi himself was on pins and needles just thinking about what would happen if they failed.

"Sheesh, even Persona 5 had better plot progression than this..." he muttered under his breath. "... From the first boss to the final boss of Persona 4. If I knew who was developing this kind of plot thread, I'd file a fuckton of complaints."

This isn't like those games I see you play, whelp, hissed Nidhogg. This is reality.

To be fair, reality didn't take into account for you lot existing, Takeshi snarked back.

Touché, the Evil Dragon then slithers back into his cell deep within Takeshi's soul.

As Takeshi trudges his feet out of the gates, shoulder was then tugged from behind. He then turns his head, spotting Koneko grabbing him by his coat.

"... Senpai," she said with a subdued tone. "... Can I walk with you today?"

Takeshi looks around to see that people were now eying at him again as if he grew another head. "... Yeah, sure," he nodded before looking up for a possible hotspot to hang out at. "... Where do you want to go?"

The two ended up walking together without a destination in mind.

Takeshi then looked towards Koneko walking adjacent to him, looking slightly downcast behind her stoic facade.

... She's hurting inside after what'd transpired last night, he thought.

I'll say, giggled Nidhogg as slurping sounds were heard from his prison. Regret, self-loathing, pity... she's a delectable cocktail of negativity right now, whelp.

I shudder at your ability to read the room and you using it as a menu, deadpanned Takeshi. ... Thinking of becoming a sommelier or a gourmand?

Eh, who would want me willingly? snarked the Evil Dragon. You?

Takeshi's mind goes blank before Koneko tugs him by his sleeve and points her finger at McDonald's.

"... Want me to pay?" Koneko nods to Takeshi's request. "... Follow me."

The two then go upstairs before sitting across from each other at a table, with Koneko ordering several HiruMac Filet-o-Fish sets (fries and drinks included, latter consisting of every single soft drink option each) while Takeshi settled for a HiruMac Teriyaki McBurger set (with a Coca-Cola).

... I swear on Loki's chin, that stelpa packs away more Thor when he's grieving, deadpanned Nidhogg.

Let the girl eat, sighed Takeshi before he then looked back at her. "... Comfortable?"

Koneko nods before sipping her drink (out of eight) from her straw. "... Sorry about this, senpai," she apologized. "... Must be unsightly for me to demand this from you."

"Nah, it's cool," Takeshi rebuffed. "... I hate it when I see people I know in pain."

"... You're too kind," Koneko mumbled before eating her fries. "... Is it really true?"

Takeshi sighs, now realizing what was eating away at her from the inside. "... Look, no one could've seen it coming," he pointed out. "It was an honest mistake, Toujou-san. There's still time to make it right."

Koneko sighs. "... It's not just that," she pointed out. "... Senpai, can I tell you something?"

"Tell me anything," Takeshi requested. "... Whatever bullshit that my guest tries to spin up, I'll do my best to mitigate the damage."

Fuck you too, whelp, the Evil Dragon rebuffed.

The white-haired girl sighs before divulging her internal turmoil.

"... Before you joined, I was practically the 'baby' of the bunch," she confessed as she grasped her drink. "I was the latest to join before you, so my position in ORC was... complicated, to say the least."

"They treat you fine enough," Takeshi pointed out.

"They do, but I don't feel great about it," Koneko remarked. "... I feel like I'm treated like a kid even if I mess up. I... want to be more responsible for my actions. I want to be strong enough so that I don't have to be solely dependent on them... including you, senpai."

"Hey, aren't I the newbie of this equation as well?" Takeshi replied.

"Three weeks," she countered. "... Three weeks, and you already caught up with Kiba-senpai in terms of combat."

Takeshi's brain goes on a fritz before realizing that she might've been watching them spar two days ago.

She somehow evaded my empathic detection, Nidhogg pointed out. ... Crafty little bitch.

Takeshi shook his head before sipping on his drink. "... Look Toujou-san, I'm still green compared to you," he revealed. "I'm only strong when in combat, but if it weren't for your help back there, I would've got my ass laid out."

Koneko sighed before also sipping on her second drink. "... I only became President's Rook to have the strength to stand up for myself," she revealed. "I wanted to be strong enough so that when I'm alone again... I'd be able to fight my way out."

Takeshi understands vaguely where she's coming from. "... You're a lot stronger than you think you are, Toujou-san," he assured. "Hell, even with all my power, I couldn't get rid of the enemy general even though the window was open for me."

"But still...!" Koneko's stoic facade began to crack. "... If it weren't for my recklessness two weeks ago, then all of this wouldn't have happened!"

"Hey, look at me," Takeshi remarked as he grabbed Koneko's attention. "... Does it look like I'm upset at you?"

Koneko shakes her head.

"... Please, stop blaming yourself," Takeshi pleaded. "... Now, when you made the choice to let the monster of the week explode away from you rather than in front of you, at that moment, and not right now, do you regret making that choice?"

Koneko then thinks back to two weeks ago when she threw the Stray Witch that had exploded away from them.

Why did she make that choice back then? Self-preservation? The need to get rid of the enemy in the most prudent way possible? To find a quick exit after entering an initially unknown location?

... It was the latter reason that she was thinking about at that moment. But why? In order to regroup with the rest of her Peerage?

... No, she thought before answering. "... I don't regret doing it if it meant looking out for you, senpai."

"There you go!" Takeshi answered jubilantly. "No need to overthink it, because you made the right call back there!"

Koneko sighs in relief. "... You weren't a fully-fledged Devil back then, senpai," she pointed out. "Sacred Gear or not, you were the weakest of us. I couldn't let you die back there."

"And for that, I have the utmost gratitude for you, Toujou-san," Takeshi remarked. "... Don't ever put yourself down like this ever again, alright?"

She nods, now willing to trust him a bit more.

"And hey, if it makes you feel any better, then here's my proposition," Takeshi said. "... Next time we go into battle, let's watch each others' backs so we're less likely to mess up by accident. Just as I trusted you with my life in ORC, can you put your trust in me to at least not make you doubt yourself?"

Koneko quietly chuckles to herself before looking at him with a slight smirk. "... Are you coming onto me?"

"Just looking out for a fellow, one step at a time," Takeshi half-evaded her provocation before the two then shook hands as a sign of rapport. "Now then, shall we finish our spread or do you want me to help?"

"I'm good," Takeshi then watches Koneko devour the remainder of her horde of food before his very eyes, akin to how one sees trash being tossed into an incinerator.

Objectively horrifying, but impossible to look away from.

... You two done? deadpanned Nidhogg. I really hope that it was worth spoiling my meal with your bullshit spiel at the end.

Do you have something else to say, or are you just here to rain on my parade, like you always do? asked Takeshi.

Nidhogg smirks as his host inadvertently takes the bait. ... Why yes, he answered. In fact, you wanna hear something that only I myself have noticed during last night's investigation?

29th of March, 2019 AD

It was now past midnight.

Walking through the sewers below Kuoh Town's streets, an entourage of Oni could be faintly spotted in the dark.

The Sitri Peerage's golems kept vigilance even as the Yomi Faction remained strangely quiet for the past few days, keeping lookout on every corner of the town from the tallest of buildings to the narrowest of crevices.

What the familiars and their master failed to take into account was one of their own sneaking out rather than the enemy sneaking in.

"... This is it," Chiharu, the one leading the entourage of Oni said as she then stepped over the breach leading into the underground discharge channel held up by massive concrete pillars that faded into the darkness above. "... To those with second thoughts, turn back now. I will not hold it against any of you if you choose to do so."

Not a single Oni took a step back.

"Let's face it, Chiharu-san, you're stubborn as they come," a single-horned Oni with gray-silver hair pointed out. "Even if we didn't cooperate, you'd do it on your own anyway."

"Too many of our fellow initiates died during Hakone Shrine's defense and our leaders refuse to take action before the enemy!" another Oni remarked with ire. "That traitor dragged our honor through the muck! We will not be satisfied until his head is ours!"

Chiharu smiles in relief as all thirty of her fellow Oni joined her past the proverbial line in the sand. "... I cannot thank you all enough for indulging in my stubbornness," she said with a slight bow. "Mark my words, we will kill Hisaya, consequences be damned."

"Too late for regrets anyway," the silver-haired Oni pointed out. "Don't worry about us. We'll see to it that Azusa-san is avenged."

Chiharu, with the support of her fellow Oni that had joined her, nodded in approval before heading upstairs and out of the door to reach the bus stop where the barrier had missed...

"Thought I find you morons pulling shit like this."

... Only waiting for them was none other than Takeshi, Koneko, and Suguru, all three of them on the former's motorcycle.

"... How did you find us?!" Chiharu exclaimed. "We kept the whole plan under wraps!"

Takeshi points to his [Cataclysm Zone], which then the gem turns ashen gray before it then cackles maliciously.

"For someone hating all things chthonic, your little secret plan failed to take me, Nidhogg, into account," boasted the Evil Dragon. "... Did you really think that you were hidden from me during that night?"

Literally everyone's eyes widened upon hearing the latter half of his confession.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOUT THAT PART?!" Takeshi screamed towards his waist.

"I'd thought you'd figure it out on your own, given how perceptive you are of other people," Nidhogg caustically replied with slimy mirth. "... Also, you didn't ask, even after I suggested that you bring our storyteller along with us for this foray."

Takeshi tried to protest, but his guest's claim was irrefutable. "... Fair enough."

"Why Chiharu?!" the Nukekubi asked as he got off the bike. "... Why are you doing this-?!"

"Silence, traitor," Chiharu snarled. "... I don't want to see you begging after the kind of shit you pulled."

"And what's your plan of action, exactly?" asked Koneko.

"I'll track down where Hisaya is by myself and take the fight to him," the Oni answered. "Simply, what we should've done sooner."

"Okay, so run into the enemy territory like a pack of blind idiots," the white-haired Devil deadpanned. "... That is not a plan. It's a suicide run."

"What do you Devils know about honor and courage?!" one other Oni shouted. "Content sitting in your meetings while the Yomi Faction runs roughshod across all of Japan?! Get real! This conflict will only end with us dealing the decisive blow ourselves!"

"Whatever they're planning for their endgame, we'll attack them before they can pull it off!" another Oni confirmed. "He who strikes first, strikes last! That is how we Oni fight!"

"And even if our attack fails, we have a contingency in mind," Chiharu boasted. "Either way, we'll expose the enemy base's location so that everyone else will have no choice but to follow us!"

"No, what will happen instead is that all of you will get routed before you could even reach their base, and at best, come back so thoroughly beaten that not a single one of you will be able to make a single bowel movement on your own," Nidhogg pointed out. "I've seen plenty of Berserkers pull the same shit that you lot are trying to do, and guess where they all ended up."

"Don't make light of us," growled Chiharu. "... I won't give you the satisfaction of proving you right!"

"Already doing that, and I'm not doing jack shit," Takeshi deadpanned before sighing. "... Look, I heard everything. But being emotionally charged like this isn't going to produce results. If anything, you're on the verge of compromising our entire operation."

"I don't want to hear it from an Evil Dragon User whose sole existence heralds nothing but misfortune," Chiharu dismissed his logic.

"THEN LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY, DAMMIT!" Suguru suddenly shouted as he stepped fourth. "YOU'RE ALL BECOMING LIKE HISAYA-NII!"

The latter accusation causes the Oni to got catatonic.

"... Don't you all see?!" the Nukekubi began to sob. "You're letting your inner darkness for vengeance devour you all! I also want to avenge Azu-nee too! I know that the pain of loss is impossible to ignore! But if you keep going like this...! Then you're playing into Hisaya-nii's hands! He knows that you're all hurt from our 'Wild Brilliance' dying on that night! He knows that if you come to him, then you'll all certainly die!"

"What does a coward like you know?!" Chiharu retorted as she began to cry. "... You should've thrown yourself before onee-sama and take her place instead! You let her die...! YOU COWARD!"

"YEAH! THAT'S RIGHT!" one Oni rabble roused.

"COMMIT SEPPUKU RIGHT NOW, YOU BASTARD!" another jeered.

"YOU HAVE ALSO BETRAYED ALL OF HAKONE SHRINE ALONG WITH HISAYA!" a third bellowed.

Takeshi and Koneko watched as the Oni turned on their fellow Yōkai for his perceived cowardice as Nidhogg couldn't help but gleefully cackle at this display of discord before his host.

"... You planned for all of this!" Takeshi gasped in horror.

"And you fell for it willingly," snickered the Evil Dragon as he consumed on the veritable buffet of negativity presented before him. "... Some hero you are."

Upon hearing this, Koneko then pulls out her phone before sending a text to Rias.

"... Get out of our way, Suguru," Chiharu warned as she then pulled out her kanabō from a magic circle. "I don't need cowards afraid of death dragging me down."

"You don't understand...!" the Nukekubi sobbed, defeated at his friend's rage consuming her better rationale. "... I already lost Hisaya-nii and Azusa-nee on that night! I DON'T WANT TO LOSE THE REST OF MY FAMILY LIKE THREE WEEKS AGO!"

"How kind of you, Suguru. You still hold me to that high of a regard even after that fateful night."

Everyone then looks up to see Hisaya in his violet kimono swaying along with his ringed staff half's chimes jingling with the night breeze, standing atop of the bus stop's canopy, looking down upon them like a high-class audience to an opera performance.

"Good evening, everyone," the traitor Oni greeted with false cordiality. "... Normally, I'd offer something, but I'm afraid I came empty-handed-"

"HISAYA!" Chiharu and all of the Oni then pounced towards where the traitor Oni was at, wrecking his whole perch with their swings into scrap.

"Sloppy," Hisaya then clicked his tongue in disappointment as he suddenly appeared behind Takeshi, Koneko, and Suguru, sniffing the white-haired girl's locks while both his smooth, yet firmly-muscled hands were placed on the Evil Dragon User and the Nukekubi's shoulders. "... Learn from these three. They have better manners than you."

Chiharu and all of the other Oni then attack Hisaya as the other three evade from becoming part of the crossfire.

"We need to get in there, ASAP!" Takeshi pointed out.

"I already called for help!" Koneko remarked. "We'll have to keep him occupied until everyone else gets here!"

Takeshi then looks back at Suguru, who was now on the verge of having a panic attack after Hisaya had touched him.

"... You okay?!" Takeshi asked the Nukekubi.

"... I... I'm fine," he nodded as he then drew one of his kodachi. "... I have to do this!"

"Don't die," the Devil ordered. "HENSHIN!"

Takeshi then transformed into his armored form as he, Koneko, and Suguru all charged in towards where Hisaya was at, the latter fending off the other Oni as if he were playing with children.

"Oh, sweet little Chiharu," the traitor sighed as he stopped her club swing with the tip of his ringed staff. "... You were never the subtle type, you know."

Chiharu refuses to answer, screaming in fury as she uses her Senjutsu to boost her body's strength to make each blow from her kanabō a killing one, determined to bring Hisaya down no matter what.

"... The silent treatment?" Hisaya sighed in disappointment as he dodged her and the Oni's club swings. "... Once a child, always will be-"

"EYES UP HERE, JACKASS!"

*CLANG!*

Takeshi's [Mayhem Striker] clashed against the traitor Oni's kanabō half before he then evaded Koneko's ground punch and Suguru's sword swing.

"Ah, it's the Evil Dragon User himself," Hisaya smirked. "... Glad to take a closer look at you."

"Sheesh, what do you want, an autograph?" sighed Takeshi as he shook his head. "At least that way, you'll learn that I have a name."

Hisaya chuckles to himself. "... What is the point of giving a name to a living incarnation of this generation's calamity-?"

"HISAYA!" roared Chiharu as she and the other Oni encircled him and the others, planting their kanabō around him as their collective ki flowed through the earth. "This time...! YOU'LL PAY FOR YOUR TREACHERY!"

*FWHOOM*

A massive magic circle of oriental design shone from beneath where the traitor and his guests were standing.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!" panicked Takeshi as he then grabbed Koneko and Suguru under his arms before fleeing from the encirclement.

"BEHOLD! THE CULMINATION OF OUR VENGEANCE!" the Oni declared as the bright blue light shone even more intensely. "[COMBINED YŌJUTSU: THIRTY-SIX TRIGRAMS - RAGE OF THE EARTH DEITY]!"

Takeshi then jumps out of the encirclement before he, his kouhai, and the Nukekubi could be caught in the oncoming blast.

*KABOOM!*

A massive volcanic eruption burst from the encirclement, blasting a burning hot geyser of lava that nearly roasted the three of them in the crossfire.

"YOU ALMOST ROASTED US, YOU DUMBASS!" Takeshi flipped off Chiharu.

"Survival is your responsibility," the Oni dismissed his vitriol. "... At last, the traitor is dead-!"

"Celebrating too soon, aren't we?" Everyone then turned towards Hisaya as he then appeared behind the four of them. "... Subtle as a gong, Chiharu. For shame."

Realizing that their ultimate attack had failed to even injure Hisaya, Chiharu completely snaps, lunging towards Hisaya with her kanabō to crush him with an overhead swing...

*PUFF!*

... But that attempt was nullified by a shabari-gasa's canvas.

"... A parasol?" Koneko remarked before remembering something. "... Oh no!"

The umbrella then closes before the club is then rebound with a strong backhand swing from his blade, revealing an Oni with a pair of mismatched horns.

"Ah, Kataki!" the traitor said with joy in his voice. "You've arrived just in time!"

"I've come to inform you that Mt. Iwafune and Mt. Fuji's seals have been breached," the Oni confirmed as he sheathed his blade.

At the Hidden Shrine Underneath Mt. Fuji...

"Wait, you found it?!" Rengokuki exclaimed over the communication magic's circle over his right ear, calling his associate while he was surrounded in the corpses of the recently-slain heron-like Kawa-Tengu, mantis-like Kamikiri, and anthropomorphic Bakeneko, all of them being feasted on by the Oni's pet Ōmukude after they'd failed to defend the seal from him.

"Indeed I did," Dōman's gravely voice replied from the other side of the communication. "I had Kataki deliver it to Hisaya as we speak."

The three-horned Oni cackles triumphantly. "HELL YEAH! NOW WE'RE COOKIN'!" he cheered as he then took his massive kanabō before smashing the shimenawa-wrapped boulder keeping the kegare sealed underneath, unleashing the miasma on the rest of the world. "Now with all five seals undone, Yomi can finally drag this world to ruin!"

"Patience, dear Rengokuki," the old Onmyōji warned. "Celebrate after we've won and our enemies have been laid low. Even if the two Peerages are to fall, we still have the entirety of the Shinto Pantheon to deal with afterwards."

"Let them come," snickered the three-horned Oni. "Izanami-sama will waste them during her ascension as the true goddess of this world!"

Ashiya Dōman softly chuckles with a sinister cadence before it was then followed up by the sounds of gushing vacuum, indicating the release of the sealed kegare from Mt. Iwafune. "... Then I pray for your success, child of Yomi."

As soon as the old man hung up, Rengokuki then looked around his surroundings before begins to leave.

"... Man, that was freaking boring," the Oni bemoaned at the quickly-rotting corpses of the Yōkai he'd slain. "... Might as well find something to bring back as a souvenir."

He then begins looking around the volcanic underground shrine in hopes of bringing back something for his allies. As he then looked into the lava, he then faintly spotted something bubbling within the molten moat.

"... Something's fishy," he grumbled before he gestured his pet to come towards him.

Rengokuki then gets onto its head before he commands it to get it closer towards the bubbling lava, and upon reaching grabbing distance, he then plunges his hand into the lava before grabbing a chain.

"AH! FOUND SOMETHING!" in a rush, the three-horned Oni then pulls out a pair of stone coffins wrapped in chains, the sudden increase in weight causing the giant centipede to then dunk its head into the molten moat, killing it as its master jumped off of it to return to solid earth as it burned to death. "... Eh, got tired of feeding it."

Rengokuki then smirks upon finding out what was inside the sealed caskets before exploding into full-blown laughter that echoed through the volcanic cavern.

"... Now our victory is assured!"

At Kuoh's Border Bus Stop...

"... Impossible," Chiharu's voice trembled as Takeshi, Koneko, Suguru, and the others were all frozen in shock. "... All of Kanto's remaining seals have... fallen?!"

"So with that all said and done... Do you still insist on fighting?" Hisaya asked with a demonic smirk, confident in his victory. "While you all were busy figuring out what we were after in the dump that you call a 'town,' your little defenses that your kind has set up at Mt. Iwafune and Mt. Fuji fell before our might. Surely, all of Takamagahara must be cursing themselves for their incompetence of having to rely on you lot."

Rather than lose morale in the face of defeat, Chiharu and all of the Oni double down on their wrath and refocused their efforts on killing Hisaya, their Senjutsu overclocking their physical bodies to reach its peak before they all pounced on him and Kataki with their clubs raised over their heads.

The combined impact triggers an earthly explosion, but all they hit were nothing as Hisaya and Kataki appeared behind Chiharu.

"... I was thinking of letting you all go, but alas," Hisaya was then handed a wooden box with its halves bound together in a length of knotted red cord. "... Azusa must be rolling in her grave for having such a dullard for a sister."

"SHUT UP!" the Oni then raised her club to then crush Hisaya standing behind her, only for the latter to intercept her attack with said wooden box held in his hand.

*CRUNCH*

The wooden box immediately splinters upon impact, revealing a crushed dark-violet pulp that began emitting large amounts of kegare.

"... Such a pity," the traitor Oni's lips then curled up into the most wicked grin humanly imaginable. "... Yet so fitting for you to be an architect of your own demise!"

The unleashed kegare then envelops the Oni and expands further outwards.

"Wha-what is that?!" Suguru cried out as he saw the Oni trapped within the blood-red miasma flail and wail in complete agony from within. "Why does it have that much kegare?!"

"Surprised?" Hisaya smirked. "... That was none other than the half-eaten fruit from Yomi, left to further rot after Izanami-sama was forced to partake in it lest she starved in the land of death. The Yomi Faction initially had a supply of fresher produce, but unfortunately, they were all destroyed during shipment... so we had to improvise by chasing rumors. And frankly, it paid off."

Within the red smoke, Chiharu and the other Oni were overwhelmed with the wave of negativity that began to erode their souls.

Anger, despair, lament, fear, and malice. The crushing tide of anathema destroyed them from inside out. Some died in the process of their morphing, willingly or otherwise.

The rest did their best to resist, or at the very least, hold onto whatever sanity they had left as Yomi's purest kegare polluted their minds and souls.

"Hisaya...!" the lead Oni growled out, emerging half-malformed as her left horn turned gnarled and twisted, her left eye now completely blood-red and blinded, and her hair now half-white, her whole body twisted and altered from being exposed to Yomi's purest kegare. "You... bastard...!"

Hisaya smirks. "... Shouldn't you be worried about something else right now?"

The Oni that had accompanied Chiharu then attacked her from behind, smashing their kanabō against her back in their madness that had devoured their souls.

"And there you have it," the traitor Oni declared as he turned away from his former sister-in-law from being being lynched by her former companions. "So do you all understand how completely, and utterly fucked, you all are right now?"

Takeshi and Koneko tried their best to stand their ground, and Suguru was already on his knees, utterly helpless as he couldn't do anything to change anything.

"Satans below, I already hate this..." growled Takeshi as he kept his [Mayhem Striker] gripped tightly around his hands. "... Got our balls trapped in a vice right now, Toujou-san. Any ideas?"

"... Don't make the first move until they do," she suggested, her instincts now on full alert as she could sense the two Oni were extremely dangerous right now. "... He's our Genjutsu user, so we can't get careless."

"Ah, caution," Hisaya smirked. "... Still wary of Kataki's prowess after seeing it briefly. Well, at least you two have proven to be smarter than that embarrassment behind me."

"... Why?"

Everyone then looked at Suguru, who was now crying in despair.

"... Why Hisaya-nii?" the Nukekubi sobbed. "... WHY DID YOU BETRAY US?!"

The traitor Oni sighs as he gazes towards the young ninja. "... Admittedly, I liked you, Suguru," he revealed. "But in the end, you were the same as everyone else."

*BOOM!*

Just then, an explosion is blasted from between where Hisaya and the others were at.

"TAKESHI! KONEKO!"

Approaching the wrecked bus stop were none other than the rest of the Gremory Peerage led by Rias and the two Yōkai factions flying towards them.

"WE GOT YOUR MESSAGE!" Yuuto cried out. "HOLD ON! WE'RE COMING-!"

Then from the ground emerged several large humanoid Tsuchigumo, spitting thick lengths of webs towards the reinforcements to intercept them.

"The backstage crew has arrived," Kataki stated. "... Shall we?"

"I'll deal with the Evil Dragon User, you handle the girl," Hisaya ordered as he then readied his half-ringed staff, half-kanabō while his wingman drew his blade from his parasol's shaft. "... Leave the ninja alive unless he resists."

"Yes sir," the two Oni then attack the pair, separating them from each other while the rest of the reinforcements were busy dealing with the Tsuchigumo.

"Damn it!" Rias cursed as she then used her [Power of Destruction] to destroy the webs shot at her, managing to get rid of several strands and being caught in a few more. "One Tsuchigumo is enough, but there's way too many of them!"

"They're not here to destroy us! They're here to slow us down!" Kumowatari pointed out as he parried the webs with an axe made of lightning. "I'll handle them! The rest of you stop Hisaya from escaping!"

"You're not doing this alone, old-timer," Kikuchiyo remarked as her fiery axel set the webs ablaze. "Anyone with fire or lightning, please lend a hand."

Yuuto then manifests a pair of swords from his [Sword Birth], generating [Flame Delete] and [Fire Brand]. "I'll clear the way, President," he remarked as he set the strands of web ablaze, the flames traveling towards the Tsuchigumo and setting them on fire below. "You do what needs to be done!"

"Then I'll leave it to you, Yuuto!" Rias then flies ahead with her contingents while the rest fended off the Tsuchigumo's webs.

Upon landing, the feral Oni polluted with kegare took notice of their presence and charged towards the landing party.

"... They are too far gone," Yasuhiro then draws his katana and cuts one of them down with his Yōjutsu-enhanced blade. "Put them down."

"Enough said!" Gorōbei and Shichirōji then fire away with their rifles and toss in a few grenades for good measure.

"Watch out for the lingering kegare unless you wanna join them!" warned the Namahage as he parried a kanabō swing with his cleavers before hacking away at them.

"EVERYONE, GET BACK!" Rias then unleashes her [Power of Destruction] to evaporate the feral Oni and the remaining miasma. "... Alright, I think we're in the clear-"

*BOOM*

More Tsuchigumo appear out of the ground like moles, with several more Yomi-affiliated Oni and Gaki joining the fray.

"SON OF A-!"

As the reinforcements were forced to contend with the Yomi Faction's own, Takeshi and Koneko were busy holding off Hisaya and Kataki's assaults.

Koneko herself was on the ropes against the odd-horned Oni, his sword swings being blindingly fast akin to an overexaggerated master swordsman that had walked out of an anime, cutting through trees and utility poles like hot knife through butter, all the while maintaining a stoic and passionless demeanor as if this calamitous agenda was just another day in the office.

Her Rook's defenses were completely useless here. His blade clove through her magical defenses and nearly cut through her bone.

"Just what are you after in this town?!" Koneko asked as she then infused the ground with demonic energy to unleash an explosion below the Oni's feet to slow him down, only for him to evade the blast entirely by jumping up to the treetops. "And why are you working for Yomi when you don't even have a trace of kegare within you?!"

"My master ordered me to play the role of the 'antagonist'," Kataki answered dispassionately. "Nothing else needs to be said."

As the fight continued deeper into the surrounding woods, Takeshi and Hisaya were busying themselves clashing axe against bludgeon.

"Nice bloodlust you got there, Devil," Hisaya complimented as he locked his shaft against Takeshi's [Mayhem Striker]. "Just as I expected from the one who'd slaughtered my men like pigs two nights in succession!"

"Flattery will get you nowhere, pal!" Takeshi then unleashes an ashen wave from his dane axe to enhance his blows to push Hisaya back. "I'll eradicate you without fail!"

As Takeshi pushed him back, he then unleashes a wave of demonic energy from his slash that then explodes upon impact, sending the two flying away from each other.

"Close, but no dice!" Hisaya then rings his staff's chimes to then unleash a wave of kegare upon Takeshi, but the latter absorbs it within his [Cataclysm Zone] before returning back with added draconic energy-imbued wave from his dane axe.

*KABOOM*

Another explosion rocks the surrounding flora, the two combatants at a relatively even stalemate.

"Heh heh heh..." snickered Nidhogg as his host remained standing, albeit slowly becoming fatigued whereas Hisaya was still fresh. "... Glad to see that you're not holding back, whelp."

"... Too much is at stake," Takeshi heaved out, using [Mayhem Striker] to support himself. "... Can't let the final boss show... while I'm still underleveled!"

Hisaya shakes his head in dismissal. "... I admire your grit, but your performance is lacking."

Takeshi then unleashes his Sacred Gear's ashes as they then turned into an array of weapons that then all launched towards Hisaya, but the Oni easily deflects all of them with his kanabō.

After the barrage, Takeshi then charges towards Nidhogg with his wings spread out and speeding towards him. "[PROMOTION: ROOK]!"

His body and armor were strengthened tenfold with demonic energy coursing through his veins. With that boost in power, Takeshi then unleashes [Mayhem Striker]'s collected kegare to then unleash a massive crescent slash aimed to cleave the traitor Oni in half.

*SCHWUNG!*

An entire acre of trees was cut down around himself, but Hisaya was nowhere to be found.

"WHAT THE-?!"

"Temper temper."

With a wicked flash from his toothy grin, Hisaya clocks Takeshi's head from behind with a full swing of his kanabō, smashing the back of his skull from underneath his helmet, grounding him instantly as his face kisses the dirt.

Takeshi then screeches in agony as he feels Nidhogg's own powers taking bits of his skull and ruptured brain and putting them back together piece by piece.

"That's about 200 years worth, whelp," the Evil Dragon commented. "... You've got 9,888 years left in your warranty-"

*SCRUNCH*

Takeshi screams again as his knee was then pinned down by Hisaya's kanabō-tipped ringed staff, his kneecap bending his leg the other way.

"Oof, add another fifty to that one," Nidhogg commented. "... You've got 9,838 years left, by the way."

His host was too busy screaming and flailing in pain as Hisaya pinned him down like a bug inside a picture frame.

"Nice set of lungs you got there," the traitor Oni mocked as he then crouched down closer to his eye level. "... Why don't you indulge me for a second?"

Just as Takeshi was about to resist, Hisaya twisted his pin, triggering another wave of pain that kept him immobilized. "Screw... you..."

Hisaya sighs. "... Why do you continue resisting, Evil Dragon User?" he asked. "Even though you know that curse you bear will be the death of you? Better to let yourself go than prolong the pain that you've been forced to endure, you know?"

Takeshi refuses to humor his suggestion, but Hisaya took notice.

"... Ah, so Suguru couldn't help but divulge," the Oni figured out. "... Don't look at me like that. I knew him better than anyone else, if only because the rest of Hakone Shrine didn't bother getting to know him beyond another asset."

"... Bull... shit," growled Takeshi, causing Hisaya to twist on the wound again. "... If you liked him so much... then why did you go... and break everyone's hearts?!"

The traitor Oni scoffs. "... What good is a heart that does nothing but spite?" he bitterly remarked. "... What good is camaraderie when all they saw in me was how they can use me?"

"... You know... there are better ways... of quitting," Takeshi deadpanned. "... Ever heard... of a three weeks' notice?"

"... If it were only that easy, but I suppose there's only so much that a child like you can understand for now," Hisaya remarked. "... Mark my words, the current world rejects you. It will despise everything that it declares as 'evil' and nothing will ever be done to convince them to change that."

"... What are you suggesting?" growled Takeshi.

Hisaya smiles. "... Join me," he requested. "Join me, and damn the whole world before it could damn people like us. People destined to become evil should band together and topple the world as it is right now."

But before he could continue, Kataki and Koneko entered their area, separating the pair as Takeshi then unleashes a barrage of explosive ashen spikes towards Hisaya's direction.

"Senpai, are you alright?!" Koneko cried out as she picked him up by his shoulder.

"... I'm kinda seeing double... but I'll live," he deliriously remarked with a slightly slurred voice.

"TAKESHI!" Rias' voice cried out as she and everyone else arrived where they were at.

"WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED, HISAYA!" Kumowatari barked out.

The traitor Oni looked towards his wingman nonchalantly. "... Oh, what will we ever do about this-?"

"HISAYA!"

Jumping out of the woods like a predator cat, the malformed Chiharu then reached her clawed fingers towards the Oni, only for him to instead use his wingman as a meat shield.

But just when she thought that he'd killed one of the enemy Oni present, all that her fingers grasped were the clothes that were on Kataki's back, much to her confusion.

"... Did he just disappear?" Kambei pointed out.

"Over here."

Everyone literally then turns their head towards where the booming voice had come from, revealing the now-giant Kataki emerging from the trees, his shadow eclipsing everyone before him.

"[Advanced Genjutsu: Art of Giant Illusion]."

The now-enlarged Oni then raises his blade that he'd rested onto his shoulder.

"Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi!" Hisaya visibly panicked. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING-?!"

Kataki then gives everyone a thumbs-down. "Judgment."

The blade then strikes the ground.

*KABOOM!*

From the other side of Kuoh Town, a half-asleep drunk could've sworn that he'd seen a mushroom cloud rising up four times in a row in slow-mo succession from the forest before he fell back asleep.

From the clearing caused by Kataki's combination of Genjutsu and practical effects (taken too far), he then grabs the unconscious Koneko from the various downed combatants around them by her arm before lifting her up and carrying her over his shoulder.

"... We got what we came for," the odd-horned Oni pointed out. "Let's go."

"And why was I caught in the middle of your own stunt?!" Hisaya barked out as he scrambled back up to his feet.

"... My Genjutsu doesn't discriminate between friend or foe," he answered. "... It's how we're able to make quick escapes, after all."

Then the sounds of bamboo clackers were heard as the two Yomi-affiliated Oni disappeared into a gale of cherry blossoms.

Takeshi himself was barely conscious as he saw the enemy make off with Koneko, realizing that they were after her this whole time, and no one noticed until just now.

"... No!" he cried out as his armor was withdrawn back into his Sacred Gear. "... KONEKO!"

Futilely reaching out towards where she'd disappeared, Takeshi's mind began to slowly retreat back into the recesses of the unconscious.

As he was drifting back into nothingness, he faintly spotted a cloaked figure walking towards them before passing out.

At an Undisclosed Location...

"Oh?" the wizened Ashiya Dōman turned his head to see Hisaya and Kataki return with their prize. "... Welcome back!"

"Thank you for your assistance," Hisaya bowed his head. "... You wish for your reward right now?"

"But of course!" the old Onmyōji replied as the traitor Oni began their transaction.

Dōman then places several ofuda tags onto Koneko's body to keep her immobilized. After applying the curses to her, Hisaya then pulls out a rolled-up scroll from his sleeve and hands it to the old man.

Dōman then reads the parchment's contents before putting it away. "Thank you for your assistance, Hisaya-dono!" he then bowed his head. "Now, shall we begin?"

The Oni nodded as the three then entered Zenkō Temple's main shrine. Before the Buddha statue, a teleportation array had been set up prior to the Oni's arrival.

"Kataki," the Onmyōji said. "Wait here. Guard the way in."

The odd-horned Oni nods as the two then enter the circle before disappearing.

As the odd-horned Oni was left to stand guard, Rengokuki then shows up with a pair of stone coffins dragged behind him by chains.

"Hey, sorry if I'm late!" the three-horned Oni apologized before looking around to see that they're the only ones left. "... The ritual has already begun?"

Kataki nods. "My master told me to stand guard."

"Aw poop, guess that means I'm stuck with these, then," grumbled Rengokuki as he then dragged the coffins into the main shrine before sitting down next to Kataki.

The two Oni then sat in silence, watching the sun slowly coming up to dawn.

"... Not gonna lie, I'm gonna miss that kind of view when we win," confessed the three-horned Oni as he and Kataki watched the sun peek up from the horizon. "... Oh well, you win some, you lose some."

The odd-horned Oni then turns towards Rengokuki. "... If Yomi takes over this world, will there still be kabuki theater?"

"Hm?" the three-horned Oni glanced at Kataki. "... You're a fan?"

He nods.

"... Well, given that we're going to be killing a lot of people, I think... yeah, there's not going to be kabuki when we win," answered Rengokuki. "... But, I guess, you can teach the denizens of Yomi how to perform kabuki if it comes to that."

"... Thank you," nodded the odd-horned Oni.

"And hey, if it makes you feel any better, can you teach me first?" the three-horned Oni requested. "... Not gonna lie, I kinda like you more than Hisaya, who's always so serious and a bit unfun to hang with."

Kataki nods. "... I shall teach you how kabuki works in due time."

After the Carnage...

"... Ugh," groaned Rias as her ears rang and her eyes cleared up. "... What happened back there? ... Where are we?"

She gets up, groggy as if she'd come out of an alcoholic bender before finding herself back at ORC. The floor of the entire main office was littered with the unconscious Yōkai and members of her own Peerage, save for Koneko, who was gone.

"... Oh crap," she shuddered before looking at her phone, reading "7:53 AM" on the screen. "EVERYONE! WAKE UP!"

All of the room's occupants all groggily get up from the floor, groaning like zombies rising from the dead.

"Ow... my head..." Yuuto grimaced as he looked around. "... President? ... Everyone?"

"That was... the worst," Akeno shuddered before letting out a cough. "... I think some dirt got into my mouth."

"... Are we... back here?" Kumowatari looked around. "How did we...?!"

Heihachi then tried to reach for his sake gourd, only for him to find it shattered. "... Bastard."

Yasuhiro sniffs himself. "... Why do I smell like a distillery?"

"Anyways!" Rias called for order as everyone finally woke up. "... It's been a few hours since... well, our defeat. I'm going to say this, but I have good news and bad news."

"Give it to us straight," Kambei said.

Rias sighs before explaining herself. "... Good news is that we finally figured out why the Yomi Faction might've attacked Kuoh," she began. "... The bad news is that they were after Toujou-san and have taken her hostage."

Takeshi began to hyperventilate as he looked around in panic, seeing that Koneko wasn't anywhere nearby.

"Fuck, fuck fuck, fuck, fuck...!" he gasped rapidly. "... Oh fuck... they took her... AND I GAVE HER TO THEM!"

Moving on hysterical instinct, Takeshi then runs out of the office door, only for him to bump into Sona Sitri before being knocked back down.

"RYUUGAMINE-KUN?!" the Student Council President exclaimed. "EVERYONE?! YOU'RE ALL HERE?!"

"Where were you all?!" Tsubaki then walked in. "We lost all contact with you guys for several hours-!"

*SHATTER!*

Crashing through the window was none other than Chiharu's mangled and mutated body that then landed atop of Yasuhiro.

"... Fuck my life," the Kitsune groaned. "Laundry is going to be an ordeal when I get back..."

"CHIHARU!" The Raiju then rushed towards his young Oni. "... She's barely breathing!"

"Wait, there's something attached to her!" Rias then snatches a slip of paper tucked into her clothes before reading it. "... 'I've brought her back from the brink of death. The rest is up to you. - an ally.' What the fuck?! Then why deliver her through the window?!"

"I'll check outside with the rest of the Peerage!" Tsubaki requested as she pivoted back where she'd come in from as the situation turned for the weirder.

Panic. Turmoil. Confusion. Shame. The emotions of defeat hanging in the air were served onto Nidhogg's dining table, and his host was now properly seasoned with despair for him to finally request the main course: his soul.

This turned out better than I anticipated, Nidhogg snickered to himself as he enjoyed his spread. ... That Oni's request sounded reasonable... but what the heck? It's not like I'm going to get anything out of actually joining him.

The Evil Dragon then begins to plot the final design for his master plan to completely possess Ryuugamine Takeshi's body.

... I think I'll use that as the carrot and the stick, Nidhogg sneered in delight as he continued feasting on his spread before him. But for now, I guess I can let the little hero marinate a bit longer.

As the rest of the Sitri Peerage begin searching the surrounding woods for who threw Chiharu's body through the window, the perpetrator had already eluded them.

"... The crossing of fate approaches," the cloaked stranger spoke as their tally counter clicked to "007".

To Be Continued...

And that's all for this reboot's "Chapter 7."

Got sick over the weekend. And had to do a whole lot of research into IRL Japanese Provinces and locations to get the Yōkai geographically correct. Also, the website got shut down on the 11th of July, 2024, meaning that I couldn't do shit until I got back, and made me realize that I now have to reevaluate my methods on writing and publishing.

As a result, I am going to have to do a little "spring cleaning," on my own end. I'll be making an Ao3 account as a backup in case this website goes FUBAR. That and writing in Google Docs is not as comfortable as writing on the dedicated website.

And also, have been reevaluating my writing method and elected to use Google Docs as both my spell and grammar check and backup file cabinet. At least that way, I'm less likely to go back and re-upload my chapters for every blemish I find.

So excuse the delay, it was a rough week and a half.

Now, onto the this chapter's development itself:

Unforeseen developments/accidental mistakes when writing this chapter made me adapt out Koneko's reveal as a Nekoshō, and move it to during after her capture where Ashiya Dōman appraises her while citing Kuroka from his knowledge. Consequently, I also adapted out the plot point where Magari-sama sealed the magatama, and the fact that Yōjutsu and Senjutsu are mutually exclusive being no longer a factor, but that's going to be an important plot point much later, and it's more of a common practice to practice one over the other since that's easier (and safer).

So yeah, Koneko is still taken either way, but under different circumstances, and for the Yomi Faction keeping their hidden objective under wraps since Rengokuki isn't here to blab, and instead, indirectly exploiting Chiharu and Takeshi's emotional tendencies, and have the latter bring Koneko by accident, making both of them unwitting pawns. In a way, Suguru being alive to tell her story to Takeshi and others worked in Hisaya's favor.

Speaking of different, Chiharu going rogue this time is less heel compared to her original iteration, where she literally sabotages her own allies just to get what she wants. Instead, she goes AWOL with Takeshi, Koneko, and Suguru were the ones to intercept them, and both parties fall into Kataki's trap, resulting in all of them getting creamed (the Zoro in him runs strong).

Oh, and Chiharu, unlike in the original, she gets completely fucked up to the point where she's out of commission for the rest of the arc. To be fair, in this iteration, she can be justified for running in completely blind and emotionally compromised, but in either iterations, she grabs the "idiot ball" HARD.

Regarding Kataki, he's named after the kabuki theater's "Katakiyaku" archetype, which is the "antagonist" role for every performance, and the Tsuchigumo acting as his "backstage crew" is an allusion to how those Yōkai are popular antagonists within that theater style. Basically, he's a "cold ham" played to the hilt while serving as a tribute to kabuki as a whole.

And admittedly, I didn't mean to make this chapter as long as it should, but what happened happened, and all I could do now is that the next one is less densely packed.

Wish me luck.

Tokusatsu References:

- Azusa's title, the "Wild Brilliance," is lifted from Shuriken Sentai Ninninger's Aka Ninger, Igasaki Takaharu. Given that her name relates to the catalpa tree (which is a flowering tree that grows in warm climates like East Asia, North America, and the Caribbean, aka, where there's a lot of sunlight) in Japanese, it's pretty fitting. In an antithesis, Hisaya's title, the "Fierce Full Moon" is pulled from Mido Ninger, who was really Kyuemon infiltrating the Igasaki Clan on the behalf of the Kibaoni Army Corps, and a hint to his villainous nature that was kept hidden from the rest of Hakone Shrine until his betrayal.

- The place where Rias collects the kegare-laced waters is based off the Kanetsu Expressway Iruma River Bridge, another iconic Tokusatsu filming location where all the under the bridge-fights take place.

- Kataki's [Advanced Genjutsu: Art of Giant Illusion] is based off Ninja Sentai Kakuranger's Ninja Yellow's (forced perspective) technique, with the end result being an indiscriminate "Kalishsplosion" from Power Rangers' "Disney Era."

- Hisaya, in retrospect, is loosely inspired by Kamen Rider Kabuki from Kamen Rider Hibiki & The Seven Senki.

- The main base for the Yomi Faction takes place in the IRL Zenkō Temple, where it was used by Kamen Rider Kabuto's Hell Brothers' hangout.

* ADDENDUM (27th of July, 2024): apparently, there are two Zenko Temples in Japan, and the one used in Kamen Rider Kabuto was from Ibaraki Prefecture, and not Nagano. My B. Then this reference is just chalked up to being a pun-based gag rather than a straight reference.

OC Fancast:

- Yasuhiro: Daichū Mizushima (JPN), Chris Guerrero (ENG)

- Kambei: Taiten Kusunoki (JPN), Jake Green (ENG)

- Kikuchiyo: Tomoyo Kurosawa (JPN), Reba Buhr (ENG)

- Kyûzô: Megumi Han (JPN), Howard Wang (ENG)

- Heihachi: Hidenari Ugaki (JPN), Logan Laidlaw (ENG)

- Katsushirō: Eiji Takemoto (JPN), Matthew Mercer (ENG)

- Gorōbei and Shichirōji: Tomokazu Sugita (JPN), Stephen Fu (ENG)